ale annocer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. starts with arthritis pain and a choice. take tylenol or take aleve, the #1 recommended pain reliever by orthopedic doctors. just two aleve can keep pain away all day. back to the news. let's get a recap, merv. [ merv ] thanks, other merv. mr. clean magic eraser extra power was three times faster on permanent marker. elsewhere against dirt, it was a sweep, with scuffed sports equipment... had it coming. grungy phones... oh! super dirty! and grimy car rims... wow! that really works! ...all taking losses. it looks like mr. clean has won everything. the cleaning games are finished? and so are we. okay, but i just took a mortgage out on the cabinet. [ male announcer ] clean more, work less, with the mr. clean magic eraser extra power. a good saturday afternoon to you. i'm craig melvin.

you're watching msnbc, the place for politics. the president is in florida, reportedly for a little r&r. back in washington the clock is ticking, less than two weeks to the massive budget cuts. what does the deadline show us about what's going on inside congress? >> they only care about their decades' long, decades old gun control agenda. ban every gun they can, tax every gun sold, and register every american gun owner. >> the president of the nra is a popular guy among hard-core gun rights advocates but among those concerned with the brand of the gop, he's become something very different. we'll talk about that plus a little bit later,' banned big sodas, kicked smokers out of new york city bars and restaurants. what's this guy got up his sleeve now? we'll talk about that as well. first some developing news to bring you right now, republican senator marco rubio is now on his way to the middle

east, right now. the senator says he will be visiting israel, he will be visiting jordan as well. senator rubio made that announcement about his trip on his website this morning, said he was traffic in his role as a member of the intelligence and foreign relations committees. his trip, of course, comes in advance of trips to israel planned by secretary of state john kerry and president obama. meanwhile, in other political headlines, jesse jackson jr. has been charged with misusing campaign funds. federal prosecutors filed the indictment against jackson friday. practices cuters say jackson diverted about $750,000 in campaign funds for personal use, including a $43,000 gold plated rolex watch and more than $22,000 in michael jackson memorabilia. "the washington post" is reporting that fbi agents had been looking into allegations that new jersey democrat senator bob menendez patronized

prostitutes while in the dominican republic. "the post" cites sources familiar with the investigation says new evidence has been found to support the claims so far. and president obama in his weekly address today told the american public that cuts in federal programs will hurt the middle class. >> i disagree with republicans who think we should do that by making even bigger cuts to things like education and job training, or medicare, and social security benefits. that would force our senior citizens and working families to bear the burden of deficit reduction while the wealthiest are asked to do nothing more. >> the president delivered his address before heading off to florida for the weekend. it's presidents' day weekend and our president is taking some time off, president obama arrived in florida last night while his wife and daughters are skiing in colorado. how he's spending his time since he's solo in the sunshine state? nbc news white house correspondent kristen welker joining me from palm city, florida. is he planning on having some private meetings and getting

some work done or is this going to be an actual vacation? >> reporter: the white house says every vacation is a working vacation but i can tell you today is he playing a game of golf. we're waiting to hear who exactly his golf partners are today. some of his top aides joining him on this trip include valerie jarrett, ben nicholson, josh rhodes. butch harmon, someone who worked with tiger woods told "golf digest" he'd be playing with president obama this weekend. harmon has played with past presidents including nixon, eisenhower, george h.w. bush. so president obama really enjoying some r&r on this three-day weekend ahead of the presidents' day holiday, it comes after he spent the week, craig, crisscrossing the country touting some of the key messages in his state of the union address, so he will enjoy some down time and then head back to d.c. and take on a number of the

big challenges that await him, including of course the battle over the sequester, those deep spending cuts that are set to go into effect in just two weeks now. at this point, still no resolution on the horizon, a lot of skepticism about how something's going to get done to avert those spending cuts. craig? >> i want to talk to you about the rubio thing before i let you get out of here. the president has not been to israel just yet, he's heading there we know this spring. does the rubio announcement at this point, have you heard whether it irks some folks inside the white house? >> well, they haven't reacted yet to the rubio trip. of course the timing is interesting, rubio just delivered the response to president obama's state of the union address, certainly his spector on the public stage increased over the past week in the weight of that response and it comes as there's a lot of buzz over whether rubio is going to run in 2016. this trip undoubtedly would help to burnish his foreign policy

credentials. 2016 though a long ways away but there will be a lot of attention paid to this trip, craig, because there is so much speculation whether or not rubio is going to throw his hat into the ring in 2016. >> kristen welker frequently draws the short straw, good to see you, thank you. >> reporter: all the tough assignments, thanks, craig. feel like you need a vacation? so do your lawmakers aparentally. thursday republicans blocked voting former nebraska senator chuck hagel into the defense post he's nominated for in president obama's cabinet and yesterday they left town for nine days. joining me now jake sherman, congressional reporter, molly bald, national political reporter at "the atlantic." molly, today's "new york times" california democrat barbara boxer likened the block that republicans like texas senator ted cruz have put on chuck hagel to mccarthyism. what was the point of prolonging

this hagel vote until after everyone reconvenes? >> well, i think that republicans started out with some legitimate questions about this, and they would say they're just trying to get those answered and need more time. it was harry reid who called this vote as sort of an attempt to call their bluff saying this is enough, you're delaying this for no reason but i don't think this is going to help the republicans' image especially when they're going around saying we're not actually trying to stop this nomination. we're not actually filibustering, so what are they doing? i think especially for people who are sick of the sort of washington games, this isn't a good image for them. >> jake, let's talk about this break that congress is on. house speaker nancy pelosi blamed republicans for not using this time more productively. take a listen. >> they manufactured the crisis and instead of having us try to avert that crisis they go on a

nine-day recess. why? ? why? people outside the congress are saying no deal, no break. >> why, jake, why? >> nancy pelosi did similar things when she had control but that simplifies a complicated issue. democrats and republicans and the president are miles apart when it comes to averting the sequester. democrats want to raise taxes. republicans say they don't want any new taxes. republicans want heavy spending cuts. democrats don't want heavy spending cuts. so whether they're in washington or back in their districts, it's kind of irrelevant, because they haven't even agreed on what a potential framework would look like. so they are miles apart and obviously the optics of being out of town when there's steep cuts to the pentagon and other government programs is not great but it's really an oversimplification of the issue. >> molly, what about the plan put forth earlier this week, the $110 billion plan to avert the

sequester. is that going to gain any traction? >> i doubt it. republicans have already basically said that's dead on arrival and as jake said it's not like they were getting anything done here in washington before they went on vacation. there really hasn't been any progress. there are no negotiations, nobody's talking to each other. you have these one-sided plans being put together and then they sort of get lobbed over the fence and the other side says eh, no. we're a long way from a constructive dialogue happening between the parties on capitol hill. >> jake in a piece yesterday you wrote "house republicans say if they spend the next two years like they spent the past two they'll become irrelevant." who are the most prominent republicans leading this charge toward as you put it irrelevancy? >> toward irrelevancy basically the entire house republican conference and the leadership have spent the last two years fighting budget battles that nobody wants to see anymore. so eric cantor, the virginia republican that's the majority

leader, is trying to rebrand the party and we're starting to see a little meat on the bones. they're starting to craft an agenda which is heavy on things like education, and immigration, and things like that, and really they're trying to dispense with these fights over government spending and the debt ceiling, but we'll see. they can't avoid these fights and republicans really can't help themselves. they have a wing of the party that's hell bent on slashing spending and cutting taxes, so they really, they salivate at that opportunity and we'll see if they're able to soften their image. >> you did not mention ted cruz, we'll talk about him later in the broadcast. jake sherman of politico, good to see you, molly ball of "the atlantic" we'll hear more from you later in the show. coming up, that didn't take long, the first lawsuit filed over the cruise from hell. i'll talk to one of the passengers of the infamous carnival cruise ship about what it was like on board and also ask her whether the offer

carnival has made is sufficient. first though why can't this man retire like he wants to? leon panetta, counting the days until he gets to leave washington. general wesley clark is here, up next i'll talk to him about the d.c. deliberations that are blocking the confirmation for the next defense secretary. we'll also talk about drones and some other stuff as well. come back. it's been said that beauty is in the ewell...behold. der. behold water so blue it merges with the sky above. behold natural beauty above the sea, and far below. behold smiles so wide they stretch across the face of an entire nation. behold...the islands of the bahamas. if we took the nissan altima and reimagined nearly everything in it?

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my expectation and hope is, is that chuck hagel, who richly deserves to get a vote on the floor of the senate, will be confirmed as our defense secretary. it's just unfortunate that this kind of politics intrudes at a time when i'm still presiding over a war in afghanistan.

>> that was president obama thursday. today, leon panetta is still the secretary of defense. the senate so far has failed to approve chuck hagel for that post. secretary panetta, not chuck hagel, will be attending a nato meeting in brussels next week to talk about the future of afghanistan, among other things. i want to bring in general wesley clark, general clark ran for president in 2004 as a democrat, he's become a friend of the weekend broadcast here on msnbc. let's start with hagel. how will our nato allies, how will they react or will there be any reaction at all when leon panetta shows up for the meeting in brussels and not chuck haguele? >> i think they understand what the american political system looks like. they understand. every one of the nato allies has his own political problems at home. imagine an alliance with 26 members and every one of them has an election, there's an election every two or three, four years in every country so there's always an election, there's always turnover.

the united states is the major power behind nato, the major military power, but chuck hagel is a known entity. people in europe know him, they respect him, they like him, and they'll wait for him. >> have you been surprised at all by the backlash, and not just the backlash but how long the backlash has lasted against chuck hagel by his republican colleagues or from his republican colleagues? >> no, because when you go against, when you've been a republican, and you go against it, it's twice as difficult as if you were just a plain old democrat. >> gotcha. >> honestly, it's the way the republican party has conducted itself over the last 15 or 20 years and it's gotten worse and worse, and the more they have problems with the public, the deeper they dig their hole, and i think this is just so disgraceful with chuck hagel. >> i want to play something that senator john mccain said on fox news thursday and get your take on the other side.

take a listen. >> there's a lot of ill will towards senator hagel because when he was a republican, he attacked president bush mercilessly, he was very anti-his own party and people. people don't forget that. >> and that, my friend, is exactly what you just said, general, speaks exactly to what you just said. what kind of relationship will he have with congress once he's confirmed. >> well he's going to represent the national security interest of the united states up there so i think the question is really what kind of relationship does congress have with him? these men and women in the united states senate, in the congress, need to respect chuck hagel and they need to work with him and that's their obligation as elected representatives of the american people, just like it's his obligation to work with them. he'll do the best he can. he'll be straightforward. he'll be honest. maybe there will be some lingering resentments, but there shouldn't be. >> john allen, likely to

withdraw his nomination as nato chief, the general was briefly linked to the petraeus scandal of course you know through those e-mail exchanges with jill kelley. what role do you think that played in general allen's decision? >> not sure it played up any role. you know general allen has had a great career, done a great job. he must be 61, 62 years old. it's a full, long, complete career, and he's been a very honorable and great marine and a great public servant, what he chooses to do is his own private business. personally i hope he won't. i hope he'll go to nato because he'll be a great nato commander. if he chooses to do private work and stays with his family, good. that's his choice, he's earned it. >> leon panetta wednesday talked about drones and technology to a certain extent, talked about their importance in the battle

against terrorism. he proposed a new medal saying in part "the medal provides recognition for the extraordinary achievements that directly impact on combat operations, but that do not involve acts of valor or physical risk that combat entails." what do you make of that? >> well i think that you do have to recognize these people who are associated with the control of the unmanned aero vehicles. i was in a conference yesterday -- >> but are they medal-worthy? >> lots of people get medals for achievement, they get medals for service, some are combat related, some aren't, there are also medals for valor. the diligence to work those unmanned aerial vehicles to stay fixed on the screen to bring to bear all of the intelligence, all the judgment to make the recommendations to do it right, to do it with minimal collateral damage, to go after the right target, yes, you want really good people in there, they should be recognized for that.

we keep calling it drones as though there's no intelligence behind it. there is intelligence behind it. these are under control, there's somebody flying that airplane, looking through the lenses on it, making judgments, and there's actually more judgment behind that aircraft than there is the judgment behind a pilot sweeping in on a target, because many, many eyes get in on that operation from that unmanned aerial vehicle. >> we know this is the future of war. are you okay with that future? >> i think it's part of the future of war but yes, we're going to move that way because as we get better and better anti-aircraft weapons we're going to want to reduce the risk to our pilots and as we get better electronics and better targeting and better intelligence, it's just inevitable, we're going to go this way. this will be manned aircraft, but these unmanned aerial vehicles are going to do more and more. >> will it change the attitude toward war in this country, though? >> i think that the attitude

toward war evolves. the united states hasn't had a wore on its territory in 170 years, 160 years. that's a long time. people forget if you go to germany and talk to the people that saw the devastation of world war ii, they have a much different attitude toward conflict. war is not a football game. it's a very serious business, and as long as there are men and women in uniform putting their lives on the line in harm's way, i hope this country will understand it's the most serious, serious decision a state can make is to go to war. >> former nato commander general wesley clark, when you come back, we have a lot more to talk about. never seem to have enough time. good to see you. >> thank you. still ahead a new poll in the race to fill new jersey senator frank lautenberg's seat, tough news for one would-be candidate. and who knew? speak of the house, john boehner's unexpected response to a question about valentine's day.

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look for citrucel today. house speaker john boehner seemed to be in an affectionate mood on valentine's day when luke russert asked him what he had gotten his wife. >> what did you get mrs. boehner for valentine's day? same thing i got you, honey. >> oh, to the political playground we go. also breaking on valentine's day, mitt romney became a grandpa for the 19th and 20th time. ann romney tweeted this photo of their youngest son, craig, and his wife, posing with their kids, including their new twins, incidentally had mitt romney won the white house he would have had the most grandchildren of any sitting president.

if the election were held today geraldo rivera would most likely lose. 65% of voters say they are not likely to vote for rivera, 51% said they would not consider voting for rivera at all. this month geraldo told his radio listeners he was "truly contemplating" running for the state. frank lautenberg will be retiring after next year. >> it's time to shake things up. ♪ >> a group called the can kicks back, is out with this new video of budget experts, alice rivlin, david walker explaining what a devastating effect the national debt can have on the economy. the director of the group says it's an attempt to reach young people to "call them to action" rather than put them to sleep. it's always nice seeing elderly people dance.

senator marco rubio is hailed as the future of the republican party but will it be the same party we know today? questions about a potential fracturing of the traditional gop. first, though, a massive meteor hits earth, leaving scores of people hospitalized. we'll bring you details on the blast in russia. and another space sighting, this one much closer to home, that's after the break. you're watching msnbc, the place for politics. it's been said that beauty is in the ewell...behold. der. behold water so blue it merges with the sky above. behold natural beauty above the sea, and far below. behold smiles so wide they stretch across the face of an entire nation. behold...the islands of the bahamas.

a hairline fracture to the mandible and contusions to the metacarpus. what do you see? um, i see a duck. be more specific. i see the aflac duck. i see the aflac duck out of work and not making any money. i see him moving in with his parents and selling bootleg dvds out of the back of a van. dude, that's your life. remember, aflac will give him cash to help cover his rent, car payments and keep everything as normal as possible. i see lunch. [ monitor beeping ] let's move on. [ male announcer ] find out what a hospital stay could really cost you at aflac.com.

i love the fact that quicken loans provides va loans. quicken loans understood the details and guided me through every step of the process. i know wherever the military sends me, i can depend on quicken loans. [ whispering ] that's crazy, the cookie's the best part. crème. cookie. crème. stop yelling. you stop yelling. [ whispering ] both of you stop yelling. [ whispering ] i'm trying to read. [ male announcer ] choose your side at oreo.com. they are digging out in western russia today, a huge meteor exploded over siberia yesterday. the fireball injured some 1 240ur1,200 people there, blew out the windows in more than 4,000 buildings and covered nearly 50 acres with shattered glass. vladimir putin has sent 20,000 workers to help with the cleanup. i'm craig melvin. californians also saw

something strange in the sky last night, a streaking flash of light. nasa tells us it could have been another meteor or some sort of space debris burning up as it entered the atmosphere. fortunately, nobody was hurt in california. some new details about christopher dorner's last moments. an autopsy showed the former l.a. cop died of a single gunshot to the head. they say at this point it looks like it was self-inflicted. dorner locked himself in a cabin that caught fire during the final standoff with police. a new pope before easter? could pop. pope benedict xvi will step down at the end of the month. current rules make march 15th the earliest possible date to pick a new pope but the vet kat says the date could be pushed up if all of the cardinals make it to rome early for a vote. weary passengers from a carnival cruise ship "triumph" today are adjusting to being back on dry land with running water and working toilets.

the passengers finally departed the crippled ship early friday in mobile, alabama, the more than 4,200 passengers and crew were then taken to new orleans and elsewhere to rest up and clean up. sandy perry was a passenger aboard the "triumph" and on her way home, joins us by phone. good to have you with us. how are you holding up? >> good. i'm excited to finally be going home. >> i would imagine so. what was the worst part on the ship? >> not knowing what was going on. the communication, the lack of communication was terrible so just not knowing what the next thing was going to be, you know, when the power went out and you know, everything kind of stopped, we smelled the smoke and they didn't say anything until a couple hours passed and they told us a fire broke out in the engine room and they weren't

sure. for hours they said they wanted to assess the situation and 12 hours later they decided to call the tugboats to come get us. just a lack -- that morning was the most frightening, smelling the smoke and not knowing what was going to happen. >> i understand carnival is giving all of the guests on your ship a full refund, provided transportation home, $500 per person, reimbursement for purchases made on the ship and future cruise ship credit. is that enough? >> it's funny. i don't think i'd want to take the voucher for another cruise on their cruise lines, given this whole event. $500, that's not enough to cover lost wages and vacation time i had to burn, definitely not worth it. think about $100 a day for all the days we were without power. >> at least one passenger has already filed a lawsuit. are you considering suing as

well? >> no. you know, at the end of the day, it happens. i've been pretty positive about the whole situation and you know at the end of the day it's more of an adventure than anything else and i'm happy we're home safe because it could have been a lot worse. >> sandeep berry, safe drive, okay? >> thank you. last year, there were 443 murders with a firearm on the streets of this city. 65 of those victims were 18 and under. so that's the equivalent of a newtown every four months. >> president obama speaking in chicago friday, coming up later we'll talk more about the impact of gun violence on america's cities with sonya sowams of hbo's "the wire." after the hit show ended she stayed in baltimore where the series was set and filmed, got involved in a big way. we'll talk about her efforts a little bit later, she's going to

join me. "the new york times" magazine this weekend asks whether the republican party needs to let its youngest generations split up from the old guard. is the party as we know it becoming obsolete? i want to take it to the war room. kaitlin dawson, republican strategist and former chair chris kofinis, democratic strategist and former senior staff to joe manchin. good to have you with me. you know scott reid, ran the campaign in '96, quoted as saying in part, i want to get this right that the party is, his words, "irrelevant." he talks about the divide between the social and economic conservatives as well as demographic changes. how real is the threat that a frustrated republican, like a senator rand paul perhaps bolts the party and launches a

legitimate third party campaign in 2016? >> that's a possibility enough to senator paul. i'm not as gloomy about the prospects of the republican party because let's back out of washington, where we just got beat and certainly scott's a friend and right and historically correct we're at a crossroads in the party and crossroads on not so much the message but who the messengers are going to be and if you take a look at our messengers, suzanna martinez, kninikki hale rick perry in texas we're doing pretty well. on the national stage we got beat. the last election cycle the social media and the younger ones, the president did a good job and won the election and there's a lot of malaise in washington, a lot of encouragement back in the states where i think it really happens. >> chris, marco rubio as we reported at the top of the broadcast here is headed to the

mideast, ahead of new secretary of state john kerry, ahead of president obama for that matter. what message does this send to the administration and to the world, for that matter? >> senator rubio is clearly focused on a presidential run, state of the union water bottle episode aside, he's going to be i think a pretty formidable force for the republicans. they'll have a good slate of candidates and the problem is that you saw at the state of the union address, the problem here isn't just the messenger. the problem here is their policies, their message, they are a dysfunctional party that is basically being torn apart from within, and when you have all those dynamics, and at the same time you have these demographic shifts that are happening in the country, and the country moving in a more progressive direction on issues like immigration, women's issues, gay rights and the republican party still stuck in this time warp, you don't have

the ability to move forward, so they've got a lot of problems and i don't see how they figure it out in a short amount of time simply by just, you know, tying themselves to senator rubio or governor jindal or whomever it might be. there is a bigger problem they have not dealt with. >> this could be another new problem for some moderate voter, wayne lapierre, he runs the nra. i want to read you a snippet of this op-ed piece. "after hurricane sandy we saw the hellish world that the gun prohibitionists see as their utopia, looters ran wild in south brooklyn." didn't happen. "there was food, water, electricities, hurricanes, tornadoes, riots, terrorists, gangs, lone criminals, these are perils we are sure to face. not just maybes. it's not paranoia to buy a gun, it's survival, responsible behavior and it's time we encourage law-abiding americans to do just that." many including joe scarborough

said the op-ed was laced with "racial overtones" among other things. what is wayne lapierre doing for the republican party? >> wayne lapierre is representing his organization. whether he's trying to fold into his organization. >> long identified with the gop. >> there's a difference between the nra and the rnc. he's doing what he's paid to do and representing it. the nice thing the democrats are doing are lopping the two groups together so i do understand that he's long supported a lot of republican candidates and a lot of democrat candidates, too. >> sure. >> he's got a fight to fight, he's wrong on some issues and right on some issues but certainly he has led his organization in articulating what their message is. >> what does lapierre do for the republican party, chris kofinis? >> damage them. the only thing he didn't mention in the op-ed was the zombie apocalypse. at some point in all seriousness

these are difficult issues. i worked for a senator who was an nra "a" rating member so i understand the difficulty especially if you come from a rural state there are different perspectives. my preference is we clearly have to honor and respect the second amendment but when you're talking about reasonable gun reforms, common sense solutions that have to do with criminal background checks, positions, by the way, that the nra, including mr. lapierre supported just years ago, and then you play these kind of, you know, these scare tactics, in order to, what, mobilize your members into believing somehow the democrats are trying to take away gun rights? it is a falsehood so he doesn't do any good to republicans, he doesn't do any good to his organization and he doesn't do any service to a really difficult, complex issue that i think deserves a higher level of debate than what we're seeing. >> katon dawson, senator cruz of texas in the news mostly for his

scathing attacks on chuck hagel, so much so senator mccain had to put him in his place during the confirmation hearings this week. what do we think is behind senator cruz's audacity? >> i think senator cruz is doing what he told the people of texas he was going to do, come to washington, throw elbows and open the door and talk some big discussions. has he upset some people, sure. i don't think ted cruz was worried about who he upsets. i think he's concerned about who he represents in texas. is he trying to play by the rules and play nice? i don't think ted cruz came to washington to play nice. i don't. i think you'll see him a notable figure in the republican party. he knows what he stands for, he's articulating it, making some people mad. if he makes john mccain mad, i think ted cruz doesn't worry about riding the elevator down himself in the senate big. >> katon and chris good to see you. >> thank you. he's leading the fight against guns, going after salt

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new york city's school bus drivers ended their month-long strike friday, another victory for mayor michael bloomberg. the bus drivers unions were demanding job protections. their strike forced more than 100,000 students, many of them with special needs, to stay home for the last four weeks. the unions are not the only issue on the mayor's plate these days but first, a fun fact about the big mac, the sire foam clam shell you used to get your burger in, did you know it was created by the father of former utah governor and gop presidential wanna be jon huntsman? well now he's not the only politician with a claim on the problematic material. in his state of the city speech this week, mayor michael bloomberg pushed to ban

styrofoam in manhattan. >> it's not just terrible for the environment. it's another thing that's terrible for the taxpayers. styrofoam increases the cost of recycling by as much as $20 per ton because it has to be removed, something we know is environmentally destructive that is costing taxpayers money and that is easily replaceable, i think is something we can do without. >> joining me michael barbareau covers mayor bloomberg for "the no, times." good to see you. >> good to be here. >> he wants to take styrofoam out of new york city stores and restaurants. how feetible is th ibfeasible i? >> entirely feasible. this is like the cockroach of trash. >> the cockroach of trash. >> it never dies, it doesn't biodegrade, it breaks apart, ends up in the water system, being 20,000 tons of it in the city's landfills and he thinks it's unnecessary. >> and we think this is

something that he can get done before he leaves office? >> yes. he's had a little more difficulty with banning other things like a 32-ounce soda but this one it appears can he get done through the city council which tends to do what he likes to do. >> does he have some backing from green energy advocates so far on this one? >> absolutely and there are other cities out there who have done this successfully, los angeles, portland and oregon have done it. there is precedent for getting it done. >> in a mayor bloomberg, this it he had to say earlier at a funeral service for former mayor ed koch. take a listen. >> over the years, many people turned to ed for advice including me. no one understood the job like he did and no one was more eager to talk about it. he was always available, always direct, always wise. for example, i remember the time we're talking about how to tackle obesity and he said, limit the size of sugary drinks. no one will notice.

>> of course people did notice. is he going to face the same kind of opposition here that he faced on sugary drinks? >> there is no styrofoam lobby as powerful as the american beverage lobby and that is where mike bloomberg has run into a real serious legal obstacle that the industry told him you're not going to do this. i'll tell you why they're doing that, because you know the phrase if you can make it here in new york you can make it anywhere. if you can ban it here you can probably ban it anywhere. the mayor banned indoor smoking, other cities adopted it, the beverage industry does not want that experiment happens here to go national so he's facing a big legal fight on banning large sodas. >> and typically once it's banned, it rarely comes back. >> as we know. >> michael barbareau of "the new york times" thanks so much. new jersey senator bob menendez continues to battle scandalous headlines while frank lautenberg has seen the writing

on the wall and is saying good-bye. the fight for his seat is just starting to heat up. we'll talk more about the state of the garden state up next, you're watching msnbc, its place for politics. ♪ you know my heart burns for you... ♪ i'm up next, but now i'm singing the heartburn blues. hold on, prilosec isn't for fast relief. cue up alka-seltzer. it stops heartburn fast. ♪ oh what a relief it is!

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in case you weren't aware, i'm not standing for re-election in 2014, but i'm praying that something goes wrong. >> i don't know what that means. he was reluctant to say it, senator frank lautenberg the only remaining world war ii veteran left in the senate told new jerseyians he's not going to seek re-election. lautenberg served in the senate from 1982 to 2001 and after a brief retirement came back in 2003. his departure opens the door to a very exciting jersey primary.

faith friedman writes for "the new jersey star ledger" and back with me molly ball of "the atlantic." matt we'll start with you, you were the first to report lautenberg was going to leaving the seat. he may be 89 but he had been up until that news conference fairly insistent about staying, even if his speech, announcing that he's going to be very active until he steps aside. what changed his mind? >> well, in recent months he started to be mixed signals. i think what changed his mind was the fact we been sick lately, he missed weeks of votes because of bronchitis. after his term towards the end of his term there would be tremendous pressure on him not to run again from party bosses in new jersey. i think he would have seen that coming. the pressure hadn't started but it would have come down absolutely. >> one of the most well-known politicians in jersey in the country right now, of course cory booker.

is he a shoo-in to run in for the seat and win it or have stiff competition in. >> he's not a shoo-in, he's the favorite but a lot of people are interested in the seat and don't see why they need to step aside and let cory booker take it. frank pallone and the senate assembly speaker, several other people expressed interest and they're not going to let cory walk into it. >> the other new jersey senator, bob menendez embroiled in that scandal allegedly involving prostitutes and improper travel v habits. what is the state of his political career? >> he was just reelected so it's up to him whether he thinks he has to get out of the spotlight for a while. it's been drip, drip, drip, ever since the story came out, largely unsubstantiated before the november election but we keep hearing more, new things about it, now the fbi investigating the prostitution angle, there's been a lot of

really damaging revelations on the other angle, his relationship with this donor in florida. >> yes. >> and so you know, the question really is what he decides to do and whether it also becomes a law enforcement matter that could make things substantially worse for him. >> then we found out he spent nearly all of his savings reimbursing his friend in florida for the travel. let me ask you, how is this playing out in jersey? all of the stuff with senator menendez, what are his constituents saying. >> right now the constituents are aware of the scandal with you they don't seem to be particularly bothered by it at this moment. it hasn't changed his approval rating. there was a poll released yesterday that showed his approval rating steady despite a lot of people knowing about the scandal. the worry is among democratic insiders that if for some reason bob menendez has to resign or forced to resign that governor christie could appoint a temporary replacement and give that person a republican presumably the advantage of it

until a special election. >> molly we can't talk about the garden state without talking about chris christie these days. any reason to think he'd leave his post as governor to be a senator? >> if you told me a few months ago chris christie would be the least interesting top politician in new jersey right now i would have laughed. he finds himself with very little drama, expected to coast to re-election so i think he's happy with that, going to sit pretty at least until that happens. >> molly ball and matt friedman, big thanks to you both. >> thanks, craig. coming up, making it personal, how president obama's using the emotions of the shooting in newtown, connecticut, and other gun tragedies to make his case for new gun laws. plus how will congress solve the sequester problem in the short term? if it's left? if it's gone home? it's gone home for recess. why go on recess? i'll ask congresswoman marsha

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and a good saturday afternoon to you. i'm craig melvin, you're watching msnbc, the place for politics. president obama is in florida today after an emotional speech about kids and guns in his hometown. coming up we'll talk to one top republican on capitol hill who says an assault weapons ban will not keep people safe. plus -- >> the republicans are poised to shut down government. >> with thousands of government jobs and millions of dollars in government funding on the line, what's going to happen when those mandatory budget cuts become a reality? and could this former house democratic leader be getting ready for a run at the white house? and if he does, what's his campaign going to look like? we'll get to all those stories in a moment. new this afternoon republican senator marco rubio is heading to the middle east.

the senator is headed to israel and jordan today. senator rubio on his website said he was traveling in his role as a member of the intelligence and foreign relations committees. of course, this comes in advance of secretary of state john kerry's and president obama's upcoming trips to the region. we'll talk about that as well. in other political news, former democratic congressman jesse jackson jr. has been charged with misusing campaign funds. charges were filed friday. prosecutors say jackson diverted about $750,000 in campaign funds for personal use, including buying a $43,000 gold plated rolex watch and more than $22,000 spent on michael jackson memorabilia. the white house easter egg hunt will be held monday, april 1st. the white house made that announcement friday. admission to the 135-year-old event is by online lottery.

it starts february 21st. good luck. president obama this weekend spending some time in the sunshine state as we mentioned, president obama arrived in florida last night while his wife and daughters are skiing in colorado. nbc news white house correspondent kristen welker joining me from palm city, florida. quick question re, why didn't the president go skiing with his wife and the girls? why is he in florida? >> reporter: well you know the first lady and first daughters take this annual ski trip so this year the president decided to take a golfing trip with some of his golf buddies. we understand he is playing some golf today. we don't know who specifically out on the links with him. i can tell you that on this trip some of his top advisers, valerie jarrett, ben rhodes, josh ernest, marvin nicholson, a regular face on the golf course with president obama. this is of course a sport he

enjoys, craig, it's part of his down time. butch harmon, someone who worked with tiger woods, told "golf digest" he would be playing with president obama this weekend. the white house not commenting on those reports but harmon is someone who has played with past presidents including eisenhower, nixon, george h.w. bush, so he is no stranger to giving presidents some tips on the golf course. so we understand president obama today at the floridian which is a golf resort here which is toned by tim crain, owner of the houston astros, he's enjoying down time but the down time won't last very long, when he goes back a number of battles to face, including of course the sequester, that pending budget battle with congress, those deep spending cuts set to go into effect in just two weeks now and at this point in time there's no sign a resolution is on the horizon so we imagine president obama as soon as he gets back on monday will start facing that issue once again. craig? >> kristen, has there been a

great deal of communication between the house and house republican members or senate republican members for that matter on the sequester? have they been talking at all? >> reporter: well, we haven't gotten any information about recent conversations. there are always conversations going on at the top levels when you're facing this type of a spending cut, economic potential disaster, some economists are warning. what the white house is really doing is taking the tactic of warning of what could happen if the sequester goes into effect, those deep spending cuts that they are saying could not only hurt military preparedness but also things like head start programs so they are trying to put the warning signals out in that way. the big same sticking points with president obama saying he will only accept an approach that increases revenues as well as includes spending cuts, whereas republicans are saying we're not going to give you any new revenues. we just agreed to increase taxes during the last fiscal fight,

they are saying they want to only see deficit reduction in this next deal so that is where the battle lines are being drawn and i can guarantee you once the vacation is over both for president obama and members of congress they have to get back at it because that deadline is approaching very fast. >> kristen welker from florida, thanks. >> reporter: thanks. the president urged lawmakers in his weekly radio address to consider the proposals he laid out in his state of the union speech on gun violence specifically but he's also looking ahead to the approximately $85 million across the board spending cuts called the sequester coming up at the end of the month. with me lynn sweet of ""the chicago sun-times"" and alicia sunhouse, reporter from "the washington post." alicia, you wrote how he got fatherhood into his chicago speech when he was talking about gun violence. let's take a listen. >> there's no more important

ingredient for success, nothing that would be more important for us reducing violence than strong stable families, which means we should do more to promote marriage and encourage fath fatherhood. i wish i had a father who was around -- >> let's talk about gun violence specifically here, felicia, specifically from the newtown tragedy to the hadiya pendleton shooti shooting, the 15-year-old girl shot in chicago, the president has made this very personal. at this point politically. what type of legislation can he realistically get through congress? >> well at this point not too much has changed on the hill since this issue began being raised at the beginning of this congress. right now universal background checks remain the one part of that whole agenda that really seems like the most politically

feasible. what i found really interesting in what the president talked about on friday, though, he did bring that gun control message to chicago, a place where he obviously has a long history. >> yes. >> and has lived for many years. when he was talking about that, he brought the issue of newtown into it saying the number of gun deaths you'll have in the city of chicago would equal four newtowns a year and linked it to his personal experience of a son as a single mother, it's not just about gun violence in these communities, it's really about the issues of family. it's something that i think you saw him get a lot more emotional about than he has done in most of his recent speeches and a lot of observers who are seeing this are seeing a very different president than you saw in his first term. now whether this is sort of a new course that he's going to be charting and exposing the new personal side, i think it's maybe a little too soon to tell you about a it's definitely an interesting and new direction that he's taking in public appearances. >> lynn, the emotion that we heard at the end of that state

of the union speech, the speech in chicago, yesterday we just played a snippet of, there have been a number of ads that have run. has there been a cumulative effect yet? has the president been able to move the needle at all in this country with regards to gun violence? >> i think he has been able to have, but this is, craig, a campaign to go over the heads of congress. it's a buttress by his new political organization, the non-profit and what they're trying to do is rally support. what i think will happen is some of these gun measures, there's four basic ones, but each one has its own storyline, each one has its own coalition and they acknowledge how personal it was because so much of this happened within a few blocks of where his

house is, where his kids grew up, where mrs. obama grew up and sad to say, not far from where that little 15-year-old girl was murdered. >> felicia, let's talk sequester here for a second. the vacation started yesterday for congress, a lot of folks have made a lot of this. why are they on a vacation, we've got the hagel nomination that's still out there. we've got again the looming $85 billion sequester. what's the thinking on taking the break? >> their think something where it always is, is that i think as senator john mccain said a couple of days ago congress never misses its recesses, and the only times it does that is times when a deadline is not only looming but right there in front of them in the next few days. technically they've got 13 days before this march 1st deadline that the sequester goes in effect. they'll be away for nine so you're talking four days for them to have time to get down to the business of this, not only

is congress away but as mentioned the president is outside of d.c. so neither side is showing a lot of urgency in dealing with this. part of the reason is because yes, you've got the deadline march 1st but a lot of the cuts wouldn't necessarily be felt for a month after that or even later. so when it comes to what will move congress and the white house to act, a lot of times they need to have real consequences in front of them and that was the case with the fiscal cliff deal and the previous debt ceiling fights. on the sequester you're not going to see real negative consequences or a lot of americans potentially losing jobs up until early april at the earliest. that's why you're not seeing a lot of movement on this now. >> lynn, this is how one person is spending his congressional recess, senator marco rubio just announced he is going to join israel ahead of secretary of state john kerry, ahead of the president himself.

how should we read this? >> first of all it's telling he didn't say he's also going to the west bank, perhaps he is. most often these trips do include that, that he didn't want to mention if indeed what you showed was the release, that's an interesting angle to follow up on. this is what lawmakers do to season themselves, to become experts. is he not seen as necessarily an expert on international affairs right now and this is one of the areas that you go and by the way, if you wonder why a florida senator would be going to israel, it's because it's a major voting body within the state of florida. there's nothing wrong with going there if you represent florida, no matter what the national political climate may be. >> felicia sonmez of "the washington post," lynn sweet of "the chicago sun-times." thank you. >> thank you, craig. coming up, marcia blackburn of how the two parties plan to solve the sequester crisis in the four days that they'll have

left when they get back from their little vacation, plus this -- >> that's the place where they all have guns, i'm not going to break into a house there. >> in one city where owning a gun is the law. and its residents that like it that way. and the latest on the murder charges against the man who inspired millions with his olympic performance. asional constipation, diarrhea, gas, bloating? yes! one phillips' colon health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues... with three strains of good bacteria. [ phillips' lady ] live the regular life. phillips'. this is amazing, how did you find us? i thought we might be related,

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post office decision to halt saturday delivery. african-americans, 55% say they are opposed to ending saturday delivery. less than two weeks left before congress has to do something before those massive federal spending cuts go into effect but the house and senate are in recess until february 25th. that will give lawmakers roughly four working days to decide on some kind of spending cuts, and revenue sources. i want to bring in congresswoman marcia blackburn, republican from tennessee. congresswoman good to see you. >> good to see you, thank you. >> house minority leader nancy pelosi yesterday blasted republicans for adjourning before a deal was reached. >> people inside and outside the congress are saying the simple message, no deal, no break. we really should be here. democrats are about solutions, the republicans are about sequester. >> why did congress take its

recess before dealing with the deficit issues? >> well the calendar for the year is set the previous year, and we schedule a certain number of weeks to go back into our districts, to meet with constituents and to work, and this is one of those weeks, and quite frankly, i got to tell you, everybody has known that these spending reductions were going to take place on march 1st, that we have known since august of 2011 that we were going to do the across-the-board spending cuts. we had the select committee. this has been looming out there. the senate has not taken any bill that we have sent them that would have addressed this, and you can go back and look at the register that we send over "the journal" of activity from may 10th, august 1st to august 2nd, september 19th, 2012, solutions were given to the senate. the senate said we're not going to deal with that, and they didn't. >> congresswoman let's talk about the optics, talk about the

optics, we're talking $85 billion. we're talking according to the cbo 750,000 jobs are on the line and you go back to tennessee and not just you obviously, i mean you're here so we single you out but all of the congressmen and senators that don't have the best of reputations these days collectively, you take a vacation. it just looks bad. >> we're not taking a vacation. we're working and meeting and hearing from our constituents and craig, if you were sitting with me, with my constituents this morning, what you would have heard is this. we want the spending cuts to take place. we want to make certain that the non-defense discretionary is cut even further because of all the accelerated spending that took place through t.a.r.p. one, son of t.a.r.p., grandson of t.a.r.p., stimulus. you've got to cut out this out of control spending. >> many issues supported by republicans.

>> we want to cut, we want to make certain we protect the military, and republicans, web we go back next week, house republicans are going to bring a bill forward that will give the military some flexibility as we try to protect them and work with them through this process, but i got to tell you, if you're talking to constituents across this country, they're saying the federal government spends too much. you don't have a revenue problem. you have a spending problem. when you have increased discretionary spending 30%, certainly you can cut it, too. >> congresswoman, the cbo, the congressional budget office, non-partisan, non-partisan, we should know, highly regarded by both sides, they believe that the spending cuts that are going to take place march 1st will have a devastating effect on jobs in this country, doug elmendorf thinks it would reduce

the level of unemployment at the end of the year by some 750,000 jobs. if your constituents -- >> and -- >> hang on i'm not finished. if your constituents have their way, sounds like you're saying it's okay with 750,000 jobs are being cut. >> what i fully believe and my constituents believe the federal government spends too much money and has too many employees and there are plenty of places to cut. >> give me three places. >> hold on just a minute and let me finish. >> then ul 'giyou'll give me th three places? >> my constituents believe the military needs to be protected. mr. elmendorf's comments pertain largely to the military. if you're looking at accelerated layoffs that would take place with some of the civilian employees, here is what is happening. >> it's not just the military, it's food and safety inspectors.

you've made this all about the military and i dig that, you represent a part of tennessee where that's very popular. >> no, no, no. see, there are so many places, a great example, if you want to talk about discretionary spending, non-defense discretionary, take for example the gao report, we have 342 different economic development programs in the federal government. you know what? all of those have a thiefdom and craig, there is so much bloat in the federal government. of course you can cut those down, of course we need to be reducing what the federal government spends. of course our constituents are wanting us to make reductions in that discretionary spending. they want us to protect military spending. they want us to stabilize medicare and social security so that the benefits that you have been paying for, you're going to

be able to get. and yet they want us to deal with all of the entitlements and the programs that have just -- >> i hate to cut you off but if i don't get to cut you off i don't get to ask any more questions. before i let you out of here, you expressed skepticism about the president's claim that he shot skeet. i haven't talked to you since. i assume that you've seen the photo. you said that you would invite him to shoot skeet with you. have you gotten an invitation? have you gotten an invitation from the president? >> well, i have to tell you, he has not yet invited me to camp david and i am working on pulling together a skeet shoot and -- >> i bet you are. >> i do plan to invite the president and he can bring that over/under that he was in the picture with. we'll see how well he shoots it. >> the over/under? we'll leave it there. congresswoman marsha blackburn, good to see you. >> good to see you, thank you. coming up, an actress who

played a cop on hbo's "the wire" you remember after the show ended she stayed in baltimore and even got involved in getting guns off the street. i'm going to talk to her after a little bit later. first though, michael jordan reaches a milestone and it makes a lot of us feel pretty old. got me to thinking the results of those deep thoughts, next. you're watching msnbc. [ male an] the rhythm of life. [ whistle blowing ] where do you hear that beat? campbell's healthy request soup lets you hear it... in your heart. [ basketball bouncing ] heart healthy. great taste. mmm... [ male announcer ] sounds good. it's amazing what soup can do. to prove febreze can keep this car fresh, we loaded it with fast food, sweaty hockey gear, and a smelly dog cage. and parked it at a mall. in texas. for two days. then put a febreze car vent clip on the dash and let in real people. it smells good. like laundry fresh out of like the dryer.

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arguments refer to the nba website, quote by acclimation, michael jordan is the greatest basketball player of all-time, off the court another superlative thanks to mainly to the insanely overpriced sneakers, he became the pitch man for the last 25 years. jordan's legacy is one of the few that's endured. think about it. how many bona fide global sports stars turn cult icons have a legacy that lasts long after they leave the sport they dominated? very few. so why mike? was it because he transcended sports and made fans out of folks who never pick up a basketball or maybe it's because the press helped by occasionally giving him a pass on a few things, or maybe it's because m.j., unlike so many in his sphere has always done a solid job of helping keep the mystique intact, no tweets, no facebook posts, no tell-all interviews every few years.

here's a thought. maybe the truly great don't have to remind us how great they are, because from time to time we'll just reflect and remember on our own. happy 50th birthday, michael jordan. up next, we'll take it to a town in georgia where there's a very low crime rate and some, some attribute that to the fact that it's a lot of packed heat there. fact-checking the president's state of the union. the president made a lot of proposals he said wouldn't cost the country a dime. we'll look at whether that stands up to scrutiny. this is msnbc, the place for politics. comfortable temperature. biceps. he maintains everything for your pleasure. he has the nicest car you can think of, but longer. with one hand he can roll down 10 windows plus the partition. everything he does, tacks right off. and of course he dines upon the liquid gold of velveeta shells and cheese. end of story. liquid gold.

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the family of south african olympic star oscar pistorius is breaking their silence, they say they believe the shooting death of pistorius' girlfriend is a tragic accident. he is accused of killing his girlfriend, a south african model. pistorius appeared in court yesterday to face charges of

premeditated murder. michelle kosinski is in pretoria, south africa, with more on this. >> reporter: hi there, oscar pistorius is being held here at a police station instead of a prison which is where most people in this type of case would be held. is that special treatment? yeah, it is in fact. the magistrate at his first appearance brought it up yesterday and said well would so and so in this other case be allowed to do that? the pros cuters didn't have a problem with it. police say pistorius is doing okay, he's been reading, had a visit from his legal team and people who appear to be members of his family. he will likely be here at least until his tuesday bond hearing and that could be interesting. each side will argue whether he should and should not be set free, and that will likely shed much more light on what exactly investigators think happened inside that house. pistorius' gated home early valentine's day morning that ended in the shooting of his girlfriend model reeva steenkamp. one legal expert says it's likely pistorius will be set

free even though prosecutors are calling this premeditated murder. he said that's because what it boils down to ultimately is whether or not pistorius is perceived as a threat or a flight risk. that tuesday bond hearing will be the same day as steenkamp's funeral and tonight we'll air the first episode of the reality show -- a special gun debate in this country, many are calling for fewer guns, i was able to visit a small town outside of atlanta which takes a different approach to gun control. >> this is my first weapon. >> reporter: aisha wolf carries for protection. >> .40 caliber. >> reporter: pretty serious first weapon? >> these additions were my

christmas present. >> reporter: her husband, james s a hunter and sportsman. >> my favorite one is down in here. all are my favorites but this was a .41 magnum ruger. >> reporter: she keep about a dozen guns in their georgia home. in their city 30 miles north of atlanta it's required. in 1982 a town in illinois passed an ordinance banning handguns inside city limits. in protest, and pr move leaders here responded with their law, mandating gun ownership. despite never being enforced, many are convinced it's had an effect. >> our crime rate has been consistently one of the lowest crime rates in the me crow atlanta area since the ordinance past. >> reporter: 5,000 lived in the town and gun violence was rare. roughly 30,000 are in the swelling suburb now but according to fbi data, there are still fewer crimes here involving guns than cities of similar size. >> there's been no study that i've seen that attributes having

guns within the home as a reason why for that. this is our second talk on gun control issues. >> reporter: dr. joseph karateau is a political science professor who looked at kennesaw's law and studied research on guns in the home. >> you're 43 times more likely to shoot someone you know if you have a gun in your home, could be a friend, could be a family member. >> if they hear a shotgun wrack being pulled back or this sound which is scarier, they may just turn around and leave. >> reporter: if nothing else, robert jones believes the ordinance is a psychological effect on would-be criminals. >> kennesaw, that's the place where they all have guns. i'm not going to break into a house there. >> reporter: jones has written about the unusual ordinance and gets lots of calls after national tragedies involving guns, virginia tech, aurora, and newtown. after sandy hook there were memorials and moments of silence

in kennesaw, too, but few changes of heart or mind about gun laws. >> i just don't think we need any more. i think we just have to enforce the ones we've got. >> a lot of the concern was more so what the backlash was going to be and calls for changes to the gun law, restrictions on ownership. >> reporter: as the national debate over gun control continues -- >> the closest thing to what the cowboys carried. >> reporter: no one in kennesaw is aiming to change the ordinance. gun control remains at the top of the president's agenda as it will for many on capitol hill. david gregly will have much more on the issue of guns tomorrow morning on nbc's "meet the press." retired commander cappy john kelly will be david's exclusive guest. the president's state of the union address tuesday touched on many hot button issues in addition to gun control namely the budget and immigration, but there were also some significant social issues that were some

social initiatives that were brought to the forefront. president obama talked about raising the minimum wage, bringing down medicare costs and expanding early childhood education. he then spent the rest of the week on the road explaining that these topics were crucial to strengthening the middle class, but he also insisted tuesday that none of the proposals would cost a dime. is that true? joining us now from d.c. for a reality check, jonathan capehart, columnist for "the washington post," jared bernstein, former economic policy adviser to vice president joe biden. gentlemen, good to see you especially on a weekend. we know how difficult it is to get you out on saturdays and sundays. >> thank you. >> you've done a lot of by the numbers fact checking on what the president has proposed and i want to start with education. he said in his speech that he wants to work with states to make a high quality preschool available to every single child in america. he stressed that again yesterday

in chicago. take a listen. >> study after study shows that the earlier a child starts learning the more likely they are to succeed, the more likely they are to do well at hyde park academy, the more likely they are to graduate, the more likely they are to get a good job, the more likely they are to form stable families and then be able to raise children themselves who get off to a good start. >> what do we know, jonathan capehart about the coordination when a child starts school and their chances at success? >> well look what we do know from a study that was done a few years back that only 28% of american children who have access to preschool actually take it, and when the president says that, you know, reaching someone at that age is vital, kids who don't go, who don't go to preschool are 60% more likely

to never attend college, 70% more likely to commit a violent crime. also, you know, when the president did his state of the union address on the white house website, they did what they called an enhanced broadcast. they put up charts and tables and facts and figures to go along with what the president was talking about, and according to the bureau of labor statistics, you know, you get a kid into universal pre-k which means they go on to college, and when they go to college, they would end up making $60,004 if they have a college degree but those who don't even have a high school diploma end up making $23,000 a year. by making that investment early on you're not only investing in young people but you're investing in strengthening the middle class as the president says. >> investment on the front and yielding a return on the back here. >> exactly. >> jared, how do you, from a number of standpoints, increase

enrollment without spending any additional money? how can it be done? >> you don't and the president actually never said that this won't cost the country a dime. what he continuously said this won't add a dime to the budget deficit and there's a big difference. of course you can't possibly have the kind of program that jonathan was describing and i'm completely with him on those statistics, that kind of work has been looked out quite carefully and we have long enough horizons from the research we can see how the kids fare at adults so we know there's a payback down the road. the president said these programs will be paid for. there's three ways to finance this kind of a program, one is from the new revenues through the tax system and the other is through spending cuts and the third is by putting them on the credit card adding to the deficit. he's taking the third choice off the table and saying they will be paid for. >> let's talk about the other proposal that's gotten a lot of your time this week, the raising

of the minimum wage, $9 an hour, talked about it again yesterday in chicago, take a listen. >> today a family with two kids that works hard and relies on a minimum wage salary still lives below the poverty line. that's wrong, and we should fix it. we should reward an honest day's work with honest wages and that's why we should raise the minimum wage to $the a9 an hour make it a wage you can live on. >> jared bernstein, frequently the argument against that from an economic standpoint once you raise the minimum wage that people get laid off, people lose their jobs. explain. >> look, we now have 19 states with our own minimum wages, we have a long history of dozens of national minimum wage increases in this country, the uk, added a minimum wage in the late '90s. in other words there's tons of

research that provides something quite rare in economics which is a kind of experimental or pseudoexperimental set of studies, where you can actually look at what happened to employment when we raised minimum wages and what we found with literally hundreds, more than 1,000 studies is that the job loss effect is quite close to zero. some studies find a little bit of a negative effect, some find a little bit of a positive effect, but even if you take the small negative effect on employment, the bottom line is that the minimum wage has its intended effects. most of its beneficiaries end up with higher pay, and that's exactly what it's supposed to do. the job loss effect has to be taken off the table based on the empirical research. >> jonathan capehart, how will the president encourage or can he encourage republicans to even get on board with these two initiatives specifically? >> prayer.

but also to be serious for a moment, the president needs to do what he's been doing and keep doing it which is going outside of washington and rallying the american people around his proposals and his ideas. whenever he talks about raising the minimum wage or universal pre-k or any of the other plans, he gets a pattern back, gets applause, people understand he's fighting for them. if you raise the minimum wage, jared is the economist here, but there's one other thing he didn't mention is that is raising the minimum wage and putting that extra money in the workers' pocket immediately leaves that workers' wallet and goes right into the local economy. they're not going to sit on that money and send it to the cayman islands or put it in a bank account. they'll put food on the table, and maybe an occasional evening out. >> jonathan, a little birdie told me you have a big anniversary to celebrate, six years at "the washington post," congratulations.

>> yes, thank you very much, craig, thank you. >> keep it up. keep it up. former congressman could be locked up for years for misusing campaign funds, bought some luxury goods, bought some furs, bought some jewelry. his famous father reacts. that's coming up. first though should the gop go the way of the dinosaur? is it on the verge of extinction? it's a challenge that one republican rising star was fighting in the '70s. we'll bring you what ronald reagan himself had to say about the doubters, next. are you to d♪ this winter? i've got a dare. ♪ repair six months of damage in just one use. introducing the new pantene repair & protect system. damage effects are visible. the pro-v system repairs six months of damage in just one use. ♪ for hair that's silky smooth... all season long. ♪ new repair & protect from pantene. hair so healthy it shines.

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five years ago. since the election in november there has been a lot of talk about the future of the republican party. is it out of date, is it out of touch? is it in trouble? should it be scrapped all together perhaps? this is not the first time these questions have been asked about the gop. take a look at this republican from "nbc nightly news" on february 16th, 1975. >> reporter: these dedicated reagan followers hoped most passionately he'll go with the drift of the conference in favor of a third party. instead reagan called for conservatives to take over the republican party structure to force out moderates and require candidates including president ford to agree to support conservative principles. >> people look for a cause to believe in. is a third party the need or a new and revitalized second party raising a banner of no pale

pastels. it is time to raise the banner to full view and if there are those who cannot subscribe to that banner or follow it, then let them go their way. ♪ >> the nbc television newsreel with paul ally, bringing you late news pictureily ifment by nbc cameraman at home and abroad. >> ahh, yes, that is the way the news used to look when nbc's evening broadcast first went on the air 65 years ago today. it started back in 1948, eventually the program gained a sponsor and game the camel news caravan with john cameron sidewa 1970 the "nbc nightly news" began, hosted by one john chancellor, 1982 tom brokaw took

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i want to be with you today so badly but you had to, given the present challenges that we are facing as a family. during this difficult and painful ordeal, our family has felt the impact of your prayers. >> that was jesse jackson, sr., speaking via television to the rainbow push coalition meeting, thanking his supporters a few hours ago for their prayers. his son, one of the rising stars in chicago politics. former congressman, jesse jackson, jr., facing a fine up to $250,000 and time in prison for using campaign funds for personal used. he used about $750,000 to buy the jewelry, fur coats and other

things. his wife is accused of filing a false tax return. lin is the washington brewer chief for the chicago sun times. jackson and his wife are expected to plead guilty to the charts. he has agreed to plead guilty to one of those that we know. give us background here. how did it all start? how did the investigation begin into jesse jackson, jr.? >> part of it was from suspicious bank activity. but when we take a step back, the source of jesse's problems is jesse, jr. himself. he was living a lifestyle that was just impossible to finance with the income that both of them had in addition to having, what we now discovered aliking for buying jimmy hendricks

memorabilia and michael jackson stuff, that was one of the sidebars that came out of the charging. sandy and jesse had a lovely residence here in washington, d.c. off of dupont circle, their kids go to expensive private schools here. it was very controversial in chicago, craig, because mrs. jackson was just an honorman in the seventh ward in chicago. the couple built up a political operation, a little jackson machine there. and in a sense, they left themselves open and rvulnerable in so many ways and they were brought down by their own spending habits. >> there are reports that new york mayor michael bloomberg's super pac is putting $2 million in the race for jackson. running ads in support of the candidate. why focus, why focus on this

particular seat so heavily? >> well, i think if mayor bloomberg has shown us anything over the past couple of months is that he is a very is savy political operator. he has talented and smart minds helping him to run the super pac. they spent $10 million during the past cycle targeting candidates on the left and right that they felt did not live up to their view of how a candidate should fall on the gun control issue. now you are seeing in the race, it's a very good political opportunity for them, it is, as you mentioned, a crowded democratic field. you have 17 candidates here and three in the top tier, among them and a one termer democrat that is running again for the seat. she is the one that bloomberg's pac is targeting due to her good a-rating from the nra. we have seen that he promised to spend $2 million on the race. those ads right now have been

targeted on her and they have had an impact on her standing in the polls. what remains to be seen is whether the candidate that bloomberg will throw his weight behind and the other heavyweights are now supporting, rob robin kelly, whether he she will benefit from this attacks. >> thank you both. >> that is happening on february 26th. >> good to know you are listening. thank you so much. still to come, a different p perspective on the gun debate from women who pull the trigger frequently. and as we are cleaning up from a meteorite strike, another sfreek in the sky is raising questions closer to home. ♪ alright, let's go. ♪ shimmy, shimmy chocolate. ♪ shimmy, shimmy chocolate. ♪ we, we chocolate cross over. ♪ yeah, we chocolate cross over. ♪

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>> a good saturday afternoon to you, the president laying out the second term agenda, what will the lasting legacy of the obama administration be? we will look ahead, way ahead to 24 in fact. and also, a different look at what some call the you gun culture, how women impact the debate and we will talk to a woman who is best known for her role on the hbo's "the wire." she will tell us about what she is doing to change the impact on gun violence on some of the toughest streets in the country. a lot to get to, the washington post reporting that the fbi is now looking into allegations that senator bob menendez visited prostitutes. he has been absencing questions about a friend who is under investigation for medicare fraud as well. and republican senator marco

rubio is on his way to the middle east right now. he announced the trip on his website and said he is traveling as a role of the member of the foreign relations committee. this coming in advance of the trip by joan carry and president obama. president obama laid out an plan and how can he get it done in four years? that may not be his goal. the daily beast said we are looking at obama's 2024 strategy. i want to bring in michael tomasky from the daily beast. what do you mean the 2024 strategy? >> i mean, i mean this, let's face it he cannot get them all passed. especially if the republicans

control the house of representatives after the 2014 elections. it's not in the cards. i think he knows this, he is not a stupid guy. he must know this. what is he trying to do? i think he is trying to shift the center of gravity of american politics over the longer term to shift things away from the republican agenda. and saying, this is what we need to get done and if i do not get it all done. that is okay. we can continue on the path. >> this is confounding to the conventional political class. it's a misuse of political capital, to them, a politician is supposed to play it safe and profess his goals only things that are politically, potentially attainable. why don't you think that politicians like to do what the president seems to be doing here? playing long-ball if if you will? >> well, they like to rack up

wins and they do not like losses. i opened the column with a joke that used to be told about mayors and governors that they would never approve any highway project that they thought would take longer than three years to build, because they may not be around to cut the ribbon. obama is thinking long-term and he is willing, craig, to absorb a couple of political losses that most politicians just would not accept. i think, for example, everybody says, he is not going to get assault weapon's ban. probably not. >> do you think -- >> he clearly wants to try. >> do you think that based on his language at the state of the union, that deep down he probably knows is that. >> yeah, he knows that. he can count knows. he understands how congress works. but when he was saying toward the end of their over and over, they deserve a vote, they deserve a vote, they deserve a vote. he is saying, i know i may lose

this vote. but let's have the vote. let's put you on the record on this issue right now and see where you stand. and i think, he knows he could lose it but as i wrote in the piece. maybe three mass cars from now, god forbid, but we know they will happen. maybe three massacres from now, the vote will be different. >> what issue do you think the president wants to tackle that will shape his legacy most? >> immigration is number one on the list, it's the most doable. it's still hard, there's a core opposition to it in the republican house. but it's probably the most doable of the list. immigration, something about guns, even if it's background checks and ban on extended magazines. and you know, just did -- just you know, turning the economy around and just sort of beating the the republicans at this, at this long exhausting game of economic chicken. >> your piece today is on what mitt romney would do if he were

president and faced a sequester. what do you think he would do? >> well, i think -- i wrote that to make this point. right now john boehner is saying we have to balance the budget in ten years with only cuts. that is very extreme position and it's one that i'm saying, if mitt romney were the president, i'm sure that is one they would not take. they know that cuts that deep in reality would hurt the economy. if mitt romney were president, they would not be taking that position, i bet you dollars to doughnuts and they would be extending the deficit out just like they are crying that the democrats are doing now. so -- >> so why make that their position? >> why make that your position you now? >> well, because it's politically easy for them to do it. if they had the responsibility of governing and of running the economy, there's no way they would be saying let's balance the budget with cuts only in ten years. they know that was an economic

loser. >> daily beast, newsweek, good to see you sir, thank you. >> my pleasure. >> immigration issues, tea party loyalists and the bushes in the backdrop, all roads right now seem to lead to texas in a politico story friday it was written, when it comes to politics, boelth present day battles and future trends, ground zero, the fastest growing of the states, texas. why are things heating up in texas right now? joining me, newly elected democratic congressman. pete gallego, thank you for being here. >> thank you, for having me. >> i want to continue with a theme. why did you leave d.c. before doing something about the $85 billion cuts. >> i wish there was an answer for that. from the democratic perspective, i think we would all rather be in d.c. working to come to some

sort of resolution about that, there is a lot of frustration, i enjoy the opportunities to come home and hang out with my family. but there's a lot of work to do right now and we really should not be back in a district work period when there's work to be done in d.c. >> you represent a district that contains 800 miles along the texas/mexico border. you wrote something on immigration reform, that includes reforming the temporary worker program and increasing the number of border control officers. attempts to legally cross from mexico, they are half what they were in 2008. they are down 78% from the peak in 2000. why are a lot of folks, including yourself it seems, connecting immigration reform to border security? >> for me, you have to lock at several aspects and you have to think about it, while i represent san antonio, an urban area, there's spots in between and frankly if you put a couple

of hundred more people in a place like texas, that is economic development for them, there's people who are going to the local grocery stores and working with -- on a salary that is a pretty consistent one, at least it was until we started to have fiscal cliffs and sequesters. but, when you do that in del rio and eagle pass, and places along the border, you are growing the local economies. when you have a district the way that i have one, it is, it is really a good -- it's a good mix of things. and it helps the local economy gain strength. >> you represent a pretty conservative area. you are the only congressional democrat in texas to win your district. also won by republicans, governor romney. how dangerous do you consider the dogma of the tea party that cruz is affiliated with? >> i will tell you that, there's a trend i think that is going to

start happening. i think the district that i represent, 23, is a great example, when ted cruz won the district by six points i was winning it by five points. i think people will start to look toward individual candidates and originally people said no way that a democrat is going to win those -- there's nobody purple in that district. they are all either mostly red, but some blue. and i think, as a result of my election, we were able to show that there are people who vote purple. there are people in the middle who will swing either way and that is the trend. i think you will see more texans looking at t inin ining at candg decisions based the individual, not the party. it's hard what patriotism takes a back seat for the good of the country it's tough. >> thank you so much.

>> thank you. >> today in russia, a crew is trying to clean up from the meteor mayhem that rained down from the sky. it left 1200 peep hurt. and blew out glass in windows. >>. >> the video from russia is incredible. a meteor trailing a white contrail, hitting the atmosphere and exploding with the force of an atomic bomb. the shock wave over the town damaged thousands of buildings, knocked down a factory wall and blew out windows across the city in freezing temperatures. just as kids were starting the school day. >> the ceiling was okay, but all the windows were broken, almost all the window panes were

damaged, there were no windows without damage. >> reporter: the glass injuring more than 100,000 people. >> i heard a very loud noise that shook my apartment. >> reporter: a canadian hockey player lives there and we talked to him. >> it blew the vents out of my bathroom. i'm the 23rd floor and i could feel the building swaying. >> reporter: a hole was punched in a frozen lake but the nearby nuclear plant was missed. we have annex pertain from the smithsonian. >> these are the materials left over from when the planet formed. >> reporter: in an amazing coincidence, the other space rock, an astroid half the size of a football field came by earth friday. while the space station orbits 2200 miles above the earth, the

friday's astroid passed 17,000 miles above the earth, closer than satellites that orbit at 22,000 miles out. an object as large as this passes by the earth, we think on average once every 40 years. two close calls with the world wondering what would have happened if either one hit a city. for today, the tom costello, nbc news. washington. >> new speculation of marco rubio's 2016 plans. next, keep it here, you are watching nsnbc, the place for politics. i took something for my sinuses, but i still have this cough. [ male announcer ] truth is, a lot of sinus products don't treat cough. they don't? [ male announcer ] nope, but alka seltzer plus severe sinus does it treats your worst sinus symptoms, plus that annoying cough.

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good night moon. >> there you go. >> good night stars. >> good night stars. >> good night popos. >> we all remember her. in a scene from "the wire" that show centered on detectives in baltimore's inner city. sohn went from playing a street cop to making a difference on the streets. i want to bring in sonja sohn. in addition to her role, she created the nonprofit that is committed to change. you stayed in baltimore and cofounded rewired for change to help young people that live under the threat of gun violence. why did you stay? >> well, after shooting the show in baltimore and being really

affected by the people and folks and communities that we shot in. the fellas and i really didn't feel as though we could completely disconnect from the circumstances that we were portraying in the show, we felt connect and passionate about the issues and the folks and the town. and once we, we went out to do vo voter work in 2008. we got a chance to see what kind of social capital we carry in the communities and we could influence people to go out and vote and volunteer to work on campaigns. you know, become engaged. and we thought it irresponsible for us to sort of ignore that and so we thought we would find a positive way to engage with the community using our celebrity. >> rewired for change, for folks that are not familiar with the

group, what sit that you do? well, what we target under served areas in urban communities, particularly baltimore right now and we use education and community building, training, to empower families and communities in those areas and us, our, we use our access to media so part of our mission is the social justice media advocacy that myself and the fells as that ar the founding members participate in. >> you have used multi-generational ptsd for people living in violence. explain that to us? >> for example, some of the

young people have spoken candio in our classes, it's for young people that have been arrested for, we use it for violence prevention and personal transformation, and they speak about the conditions they were brought up in. so, for instance, if you know, their condition -- you know being in a family that is living in poverty, that is -- that has experienced a number of challenging circumstances in the past from whether it be caused by oppressive structures or whether you go as far back as we, let's call it slavery. if you think about it, hundreds of years ago, there was a group of people whose ancestors come here under great durress and experience a great deal of trauma. that trauma gets passed down from generation to generation. so, that is multi-generational

trauma. and being and growing up in stressful situations, or family generation after generation having to deal with that level of stress, leaves a mark on that family and it makes it difficult for future generations to actually overcome that. so, we believe there needs to be a comp henceive approach to actually producing better outcomes for high risk youth and families and communities. they are all a part of the same challenge and issue. you cannot separate one from the other. >> actress and community activist, osonja sohn thank you for swinging by today. >> thank you. >> he is the public face of the gun agenda, is he hurting more than he is helping? i will put the question to today's brain trust, that is coming up late their hour. you are watching msnbc, the place for politics. this is $100,000.

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kentucky is not ruling out ashley judd as the next senator from kentucky. democratic congressman telling the "new york times" in a story today saying, quote, she has done everything that a serious candidate would do. she invited her twitter followers to join a mailing list. she is thinking about a run against senator mitch mcconnell. a president's day weekend without the president. the first family, the white house said that first lady michelle obama is spending the weekend on ski slopes of aspen and the president is in florida golfing with staffers and friends. ambassador susan rice appeared on the daily show, answered questions about the benghazi attack. the question was posed why could to government agencies not get the story straight about the

benghazi attack. listen to the answer. >> the bigger tragedy is we spent all the months trying figure out the origins of talking points. in my opinion, not enough time doing the service that we owed to our fallen colleagues that were lost. >> ambassador rice, withdrew her name for consideration can of secretary of state after republicans demanded answers of why show called the attack spontaneous. up next. girls with guns. the majority of gun owners aremen but that does not mean that women are not packing heat. we will look at that next, you are watching msnbc, the place for politics. i have a cold, and i took nyquil,

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that they were hacked last month. they have not found any evidence showing user data was compromised but are looking into preventing future attacks. facebook has more than a billion users worldwide. i'm craig melvin, good saturday to you, here are looks at the stories making news. a car bombing in pakistan killed 48 and injured 180. pakistan officials say the bomb ripped through a vegetable mashlth. more about dorner's last moments. he died from a single gunshot to the head, and it looks at this point to be self-inflicted. he locked himself in a cabin that caught fire during the final standoff with police and the new pope before easter? could happen. the pope will step down, current rules make march 15th the earliest date to pick a pope. they say that date could be pushed up if all of the

cardinals make it to rome early for a vote. this week. the networks of nbc news have been taking a close look at the gun debate. who are the people who own the guns? and recent gallup surveys show that the majority are men and the majority of them live in the south. but, we are seeing that those numbers do not tell the whole story. >> reporter: they have become the face of the debate. in the hands of a person with mental imbalances, it's a death machine. >> the time is now. you must act. >> reporter: women. gun control ground zero on both sides. looking at you guys, it's not what america thinks is out here on the shooting range. >> well, but they are wrong. >> reporter: natalie foster writes a girl's blog called

girl's write to guns. >> people think that we are not the norm and that every shooter in the united states is a 50-year-old white guy. >> reporter: julianne is a mother of two. >> never point the gun at anything you are not willing to destroy. >> reporter: and annex pertain shooting instructor. she teaches other women. like this woman, who doesn't fit the stereo type. >> i do not see a lot of african american women arming themselves. >> reporter: determining the number of female gun owners is not easy. but 2011 surveys show that the number of women owning a gun in the household at an all time high. they are making the sport their own. with girls night out on the range. and the industry is marketing smaller, lighter models and

holsters that fit a woman's curves and guns in purple and pink. >> it's about test thing ever. >> reporter: if you think their softer side means they are not serious. >> we hear that women should not have a gun, and they do not to know how to use it. and they will hurt someone. that is not true. >> i will be safe and careful with my firearm. a criminal will not do that. >> reporter: asked about the proposed assault weapon's ban, one mother called a killing machine, anyone here own an assault weapon? >> we do not like that. modern sporting rifle. >> reporter: there's no mincing words when there's a need for high capacity magazines. >> they say how much is enough? more than the bad guys. anyone think their needs to be a change in the system? >> i think they need to be enforced more, the ones that are

on the books. >> reporter: are you in favor of any type of gun control, change in the gun laws? >> i am, more background checks. if there's a history of mental issues. >> what can we do to stop gun violence in the country is a question as difficult to answer as how to stop drunk drive iing. >> nbc news. >> gun rights are obviously a very hot button issue right now, not going away. i want to bring in the brain trust. joining me now from d.c., political columnist washington post, good to see you, sir. and amy holmes, good to see all of you. >> good to be here. >> amy, we will start with you, ladies first. the president talked about gun control at the end of the state of the union address. and two days later, this was the

head of the nra, wayne lapierre, talking about the state of the union. >> they only care about their decades long gun control agenda. ban every gun they can. tax every gun sold and register every american gun owner. the president has taken the art of public deception and manipulation to a whole new level on this one. >> lapierre, he went from silent to these very public rants of late. how effective of a leader is he of the nra? >> well, i guess you can look at the nra's own statistics after the newtown shooting their membership has gone up by a quarter of a million people. 250,000 more members of nra since december. when he gave the fist pounding speech after newtown, i thought, that seems pretty, pretty raw that emotion being expressed.

as it turned out, the polling after that showed that a majority of americans supported his position on having armed guards at schools. while my reaction to it as someone who does not own a gun and lives in fournew york city different. >> has wayne lapierre been effective as a spokesman? >> i think it's appropriate that he gave the speech, there were a lot of turkeys in the background. and that speech was a turkey in terms of where the american public is. you have to remember, wayne lapierre is not speaking to the american public. he is speaking to a certain seth of it. that seth is crucially important because he is trying to have enough of the control of the republicans in the house and republicans and a few rural state democrats in the senate to prevent anything from happening. i think -- i think amy is

correct that the public is not particularly interested in some of the stricter gun control measurements, certainly background checks that the nra is opposed to, they are at odds with the general public here. >> you do not have to raise your hand, just interrupt. >> yeah, yeah, please, let me talk. >> go ahead. >> the thing is, depending on how you state the question. it's more whether they agree with his policies or not, his messaging has been hostile and aggressive. and i have talked to a lot of republicans and conservatives that say we agree with the nra on most issues but it's a pr disaster since newtown and we wish someone else would step in and fill the void. >> before we make it a partisan issue. harry reed on whose behalf

lapierre personally campaigned. the spokes person said they welcomed the nra's financial support and welcomed wayne lapierre's full throated defense of harry reed. and that may be why he is not moving on that assault weapon's ban. >> there are other blue dog democrats, dana jump in if you think i'm wrong, there's a lot of moderate democrats who are not going to go near an assault weapon's ban right now. >> i think the crucial thing right now is wayne lapierre may look crazy when he speaks this way or testified the way he has up on capitol hill. if you look at the substance, he is in lockstep with congressional republicans here. so, yes, he may be a flawed spokesman for the issue, but you have to understand how en trenched opposition to gun control is are republicans.

that is why i thought, if there's chance of having serious reforms after newtown it was right away before they regained their balance and they have regained their balance now. >> i will say, i spent time in georgia in week, wayne lapierre, he is speaking for some folks in large -- in a large swath of the country. so, with the brain trust not going anywhere, when we come back, why a california trip and a special visit with the household name has democrats all up in arms over new jersey governor chris christie. there he is right there. also, what would a marco rubio, jeb bush show down in 2016, what would it do to florida politics and cable news? what would it do for comedians? what -- the brain trust has some ininto this as well. don't go anywhere, this is

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with visa prepaid. more people go with visa. [ male announcer ] available at greendot.com. well americans may be sick of the do-nothing congress but there's a senator from florida and a governor from new jersey, they seem to like very much. our brain trust is back to talk about senator rubio and mayor chris christie. you wrote a piece where you got from the trenches and you quota republican strategist and she said that this would be a nightmare scenario. it would be like -- what did she say? >> it would be like, if marco rubio and jeb bush died to re d run. it would be like picking between children. >> what would happen in florida should this go sdmoun.

>> down? >> rubio is seen as the savior of the republican party and the rising star. but jeb bush is seen as a elder statesman, he has won a lot of friends over the years down there. and marco rubio is seen as a baby faced senator who has not accomplished a lot yet. >> has not paid his dues or done his time. >> jeb bush may actually win the primary. it would be interesting. most republicans think they would hash it out. >> and jeb bush just bought a baseball team too. >> tried to. >> tried to buy a baseball team. as we reported earlier, marco rubio announced that he is now headed to israel and going jordan as well. what do we make of the timing of the trip to the middle east for the junior senator from florida? >> are you suggesting that he is trying go head to head with president obama? >> just asking questions.

>> trying to steal his thunder and create his own headlines. certainly i'm sure it's part of that, and getting back to the 2016 speculation, showing himself on the international stage as a supporter of israel is good. but we would hear more spanish in a republican primary against jeb bush. >> i want to ask about the risk and threat of him becoming over exposed between now and 2016 or 2015 or whatever he decides to get involved, is there a threat of that happening? >> it's unfair to bring up the water thing again. but over in israel, it's dry. he may want to take precautions as he heads over there. >> that is one of the things that you were planning to work

in to the conversation no matter what we talked about. >> that was just a public service announcement. >> good. >> in terms of the over exposure, that is not the be problem. i don't think there's such a thing as over exposure but sarah palin tested that. >> and anthony weiner. >> and herman cain. >> i think the real question between rubio and bush is would the republican presidential primary electorate approve of either of them. jeb bush they see as a squish on immigration and now rubio is coming out with comprehensive immigration. a lot of people call it amnesty, will he go through with it and will that make it difficult to get him through a republican primary. maybe they carve up the reasonable vote and rand paul walks through without looking. >> we know that jeb bush won the

election in 2008. >> john mccain -- >> he also won, he took a hard line against immigration but was seen as a liberal republican earlier in his year. >> earlier in his career. >> at different points in his career. we tend to believe that moderate republicans can not get through the process but they have shown that it ends up happening. >> do they not get through the process, at the expense of, and look at the last republican primary as the example, by the time mitt romney picked up the nomination after the 112 republican debates that we were judged to. >> and somewhere to the right of herman cain >> i want do not think it's fair to paint taall the republicans with the mitt romney brush. >> the point that was being made is that even if you are not as. right leaning, as some would have you -- some folks may have you to -- some may try to paint you to be. by the time the primary is over,

you have really come across -- >> it's true for both parties. >> sure. >> you see the democratic side running to the left and then to the center. >> i think immigration, that is one area where politics are changing a bit. after mitt romney lost the latino vote by a huge margin. they are coming back to see having to get it out of the way. >> i want to talk about the other guy making news this week. your buddy. i don't know why he is your buddy. i was looking at you and so he is your buddy. chris christie, he was out in california, hob knobbing, raising money. democrats up in arms. what do we make of this? why are folks upset that chris christie was out there? >> i don't know what they are so upset about. mark zuckerberg is a millionaire. >> that's what they are upset about. >> and the republican policies

would be very good for billionaires. i think the democrats are upset particularly in new jersey because chris christie is doing well among independents and democrats. and a lot of it has to do with hurricane sandiy and him having unkind things to say about the leadership in congress. but the truth is he, has been crossing the aisle more than on hurricane sandy. he has done it on immigration as the other gentlemen have done, he has floated the idea of higher taxes and scolded his party for being not tolerant of muslims. the things that could work against him in a primary, this guy is becoming somewhat radioacti radioactive. he is injuring himself as a republican. >> when we come back, meteors hitting earth. weather satellites falling from the sky. and washington is really starting -- are they starting to

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>> this week the government accountability office identified one of the highest risks challenging the u.s. government, climate change, it was the first time climate change made the list. back for more. the brain trust. question for all and amy i will start with you this time. where does this rank on the president's list? seriously, we think in terms of getting something accomplished in the next term and what can he do it about? those are the two questions. we will start with you. >> in the state of the union, he said that he would try to pass executive orders to tackle

climate change. i don't think than legislatively, he will make a lot of progress on that, but we may see our former communitier organizer being the imperial president when it comes to climate change. >> sometimes you start by making sense and say something that is sensible and then you -- >> you cannot handle the truth. >> it's not fair to say that the president is an imperialist. >> i think what she means is that -- if he makes any serious moves on climate change, it will be through executive orders. >> which are not supposed to be used to pass legislation. it's supposed to tell agencies how to act to pass legislation. >> dana, i will come to you to save us. i don't think that we will have a discussion now -- >> i cannot save this. >> we still have the satellite to we can come to you. we do not know how long it will last, we want to bring you in while we have time.

is the president serious about trying to get something accomplished legislatively or will it have to be accomplished by executive order? >> i'm sure he wants to accomplish as much as he can by executive order, if he wanted to be an imperial order, you cannot get a lot done by executive order. it's clear that congress so goigo ing nowhere on this. perhaps he should start a new program and suggest that we start building more boats and sea walls. because it's clear that nobody is going to do anything about this in any reasonable period of time. >> so in other word, dana agrees with me. >> all the time. >> all the time. >> now we know the end is near. >> because we, you know, we talk about this every now and then when there's a speech made. there's critical weather satellites in space that are aging. and the funding to replace them may not be there if the fiscal battles on the hill continue.

and not to mention you a of the satellites that we lie on tore broadcast and communication, how do we go on, if we cannot predict the next hurricane sandy or if we cannot text our friends at 2:00 a.m. -- >> how do we go on without cable news. >> you said it not me. seriously though, this is not a conversation that we are going to be able to have right now because we are out of time. i don't know, is it is a serious enough conversation that is being had? >> it's a eat your vegetable policy question, but it's important. it's something that at some point the government has to reconcile. >> it's not something that we are going to take seriously until all of a sudden, the satellite came down. we could not predict this earthquake or hurricane. anyway, brain trust thank you. we always run out of type with you guys. it's good -- >> brains get bigger. >> we will leave it there. join me tomorrow right here at 3:00 eastern time, my guests

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